Panda goes to sea

Dordrecht-based Herman Senior is active in a number of sectors of the commercial maritime industry and has featured regularly in this column over the years including by previous correspondent Jack Gaston and this newbuild, named Panda is intended to operate for the company in, for example: the dredging; offshore renewables; oil and gas; geotechnical; diving support and salvage sectors.

Panda follows the tradition of being built for stock by Damen with completion and delivery achieved just four weeks after order confirmation. A feature and ‘big advantage’ of the vessel is its capability for deepsea work, able to sail worldwide on its own keel. This is important for Herman Senior with operations involving similar vessels in: Latin America, the Middle East, North Africa and Europe. An example is where its other Multi Cat Yogi, with a working limit of 30 miles offshore, has been operating in South America for three years.

Panda is classed by BV for unrestricted navigation and meets requirements of the Dutch Shipping Inspectorate. Principle dimensions include: LOA 27.27m, width 11.5m and draught 2.4m with main tank capacities of 110m3 fuel oil and 31.3m3 fresh water.

Caterpillar provide no fewer than five engines, two C32 TTA ACERT main engines with a total power output of 1,790bkW (2,435bhp) at 1,800rpm are supported by two C4.4 107kVA gensets and a C12 hydraulic set. Performance figures include bollard pull 33t and speed 10kn.

Propulsion is provided by a pair of Promarin fixed-pitch propellers turning within 1,900mm v.d. Giessen Optima nozzles via Reintjes WAF 572L/7 0.91:1 gearboxes. Manoeuvrability is assisted with a 184kW bow thruster and two (45 degree) fishtail rudders.

Kraaijeveld provide the main winch package for Panda comprising a towing and anchor handling winch of 50t and 100t pull respectively and a hydraulic anchor winch. An Argano S100 tugger winch is also included and HS Marine provide a pair of AKC 290 LHE3 deck cranes forward and aft with capacities of 11.5t at 16.5m. Other deck equipment includes anchor handling pins complete with wire stopper and two manual towing pins. Maximum deck load is 10t/m2 with 150m2 of free deck space.

The vessel’s unrestricted navigation capability is reflected in a comprehensive navaids and communication installation. Furuno provide: an FR-2117 ARPA radar, GP-170 GPS, two FMD3100 plotters, NX-700 Navtex, FE800 echo sounder and FA170 AIS. Thrane & Thrane supplied two RT6222 VHFs with DSC, and a Sailor 6310 SSB. Two Inmarsat C installations are included and completing the electronics fit are: searchlights by Seematz, compasses by Kotter and Tocimec, auto pilot by Radio Holland and VSAT and satellite TV from Intellian.

By Peter Barker